In a coming together once thought of as improbable, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Zigbee Alliance have agreed to develop a new open standard that will allow the interoperability of smart home devices.

It’s hope the new royalty-free connectivity standard known as Connected Home over IP project (CHIPS) will increase compatibility among smart home products.

Security will form a significant part of the standardisation process.

In addition to the tech companies, Zigbee Alliance board member companies such as IKEA, Legrand, NXP Semiconductors, Resideo, Samsung SmartThings, Schneider Electric, Signify (formerly Philips Lighting), Silicon Labs, Somfy, and Wulian are also contributing to the project.

The companies say the project is built around a shared belief that smart home devices should be secure, reliable, and seamless to use. They want to make it easier to work with Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Assistant, and others.